UK thoughts on the wallabies

[Ken Gargett]

worth a read, not least for the last line. all pretty much sums up how far down hill we have come.

also worth noting that for decades, the network covering european tours has always shown the barbarians game as well. not this time. can’t imagine any change to their rights, as far as i know. in other words, they simply do not think it worth showing – even in the middle of the night (or if a change to their rights, it simply means that the network did not even think it was worth pushing for them). not enough interest? they’ll show netball but not the wallabies v barbarians. the aru has stuffed rugby beyond what is imaginable.

as extraordinary as it might seem, it is hard to think of any politician as truly incompetent as pulver or hawker.

kbg

Australia’s decline brought into focus by Kurtley Beale’s second chance

Wallabies once led the way for standards, but the leniency shown towards Beale is a sign of weakness on and off the field

• Paul Rees
• theguardian.com, Thursday 30 October 2014 12.12 GMT

There was a time when the ARU would have dealt with a case such as Kurtley Beale's much more severely. Photograph: Ross Setford/AP

FALLING STANDARDS

Kurtley Beale may join the Australia squad on their European tour next month if he proves his fitness, despite the utility back being fined nearly £25,000 last week after an independent disciplinary panel found that he had breached the union’s code of conduct by sending an offensive photograph to the then Wallabies’ business manager Di Patston.

On the same day as Beale was told that he still had a career with the Wallabies, a sporting body on the other side of the world was taking a less tolerant view of insulting behaviour. Ted Bishop, the president of the PGA of America, was fired after referring to the golfer Ian Poulter as “Lil girl” during a heated exchange between the pair on Twitter.

Beale will be given another chance. “Kurtley was given a fair hearing,” said the Australia assistant coach, Nathan Grey. “The Australian Rugby Union was very diligent about the way it went about the process. He received the fine and accepted that.” No doubt he did, considering that many were calling for his contract to be ripped up.

Patston, who resigned after Beale’s text message became public, broke her silence this week. She said she had hugged Beale and forgiven him for inadvertently sending her an image of an obese and naked female crossbow hunter, accompanied with the caption “Di??” in June. She said he had assured her that he had not sent the image to anyone else.

In his hearing, Beale admitted that he had sent the text message to “some Waratah mates” six days before Patston received it. The allegation was that he had been trying to send it to another team-mate when he used Patston’s number by mistake.

“It was his decision to lie to me when I gave him the opportunity to tell the truth,” Patston told The Australian. “It’s like he played me for a fool. If he had said to me it was the second time he did it in the matter of seven days, no way, absolutely no way, would I have just said ‘That’s OK’. If it was one image or two or 20, what does it matter? They were both of very obese women in a very derogatory way. I am overweight and they were both naked with everything exposed.

“I said to my dad I felt bullied into not telling anyone about the photos because I was embarrassed. I sat at a table and cried for an eternity because I didn’t know who to tell because I’m so embarrassed by this. Is this what people think of me? People don’t see that side of it. They don’t see there’s a level of feeling degraded, feeling like you’re worthless. And he actually admits to sending it twice.”

There was a time when Australian rugby looked to lead the way when it came to standards. Back in 1991, on their way to winning the World Cup for the first time, Australia entertained Wales who, it is not unfair to say, did not prove to be model tourists on or off the field.

After the Test match in Ballymore, which Australia won 63-6, the Wallabies sat with their partners in the after-match function nursing soft drinks while their opponents opted for something a little stronger. The tourists quickly fell out among themselves, with one of their number suffering a cut hand before they were spirited out of the function room.

Rugby union was amateur then, but Australia regarded themselves as professional in attitude. “If any of our players behaved like that,” said one ARU official, unwilling to be named because the Wallabies were facing Wales in their World Cup group in Cardiff later that year, “they would be out of the squad. Immediately.”

Times change. Beale has survived a number of misdemeanours and his failure to control what was described as the brat pack was cited as one of the reasons why Robbie Deans lost his job as Australia’s head coach, even before the Lions had boarded the plane home after winning last year’s series.

It is perhaps a measure of their relative weakness – out of the top three of the world rankings and also-rans in the Rugby Championship, and its precursor the Tri-Nations – that since the last World Cup Australia have not dealt with Beale more severely. There was a time when the ARU would have taken a different course, and not because it wanted to be seen, as some in the United States have argued was the case with the PGA, to be acting politically correctly.

As Patston, who is reported to be on high doses of medication, surveys the wreckage of her career, Beale can look forward to being welcomed back by the Wallabies ahead of next year’s World Cup. Earlier this year, the ARU imposed a $200 levy on senior and junior clubs to help balance the books. Saving Beale’s salary would have made a difference.

In a year when one of rugby union’s highlights has been the Women’s World Cup, it leaves the taste of day-old beer. “Rugby union is dying on its arse in Australia,” says the New Australian website. “There is no young talent coming through … the problem isn’t that kids don’t want to play sport, they just don’t want to play this one.”

[Jeremy Festa]

Ken, it's great that you are passionate about stuff, whether good or bad. Passion is important! And while the whole Wallabies thing is currently in a less than desirable state, it will get better. I am not going to guarantee it. I really don't care.

But, my point is this... All the private boys' schools in Australia... and around the world. Hundreds of years' of history. Peaks and troughs.

Actually, like wine. Some years are good. Others not so much.

Stay strong mate!

[Ken Gargett]

rugby long past the private schools only stage. now competes for players with league and other codes. it was the source, and obviously still provides many, but even there now, these kids get scholarships. almost never happened in my day (a few schools flouted it). they get into the frame of mind that whoever fronts up with the dosh gets their services, and that people will front up with said dosh.

the scary thing for rugby, partly summed up in that last line, is that it used to attract far more talent when it was amateur than it does now that it is professional. should be the other way around.

charging the $200 angered a lot of people - rob would know way more about that than i do - and then forr these people who just play for the love of the game to see idiots getting massive contracts when they behave like buffoons and thugs, pisses many off. then think of the mothers who take their kids to sports. they see the vile antics of beale and so many others and see them get away with it and then be rewarded (odds of beale's fine being "paid back" in the next contract?), you think they want their kids having those blokes as role models? they see the captain (good player but worst captain of any sport ever) carry on like an idiot. defending grubs and slime, regularly sin-binned when needed (how often did that happen with eales?), telling the ref, when asked to talk to his players, that it was all too hard and then in the last game, actually having the ref turn to him in exasperation and ask 'don't you want to act like the leader? who wouldn't run a mile?

not that other sports are squeaky but rugby does it time and time again. and especially in nsw and qld, you have your choice of four codes.

these morons in charge seem to think it won't matter. it sure as hell does.

[Jeremy Festa]

Awww yes. All valid. Totally agree.

I would put the conduct of the other 3 codes in the "worse-off" category when compared to rugby. I just feel you're closer to rugby, And the UK's opinion means diddley squat when looking at their state of affairs and sport. I think the premier league takes the cake in all honesty.

What has recently happened isn't great, but what I am saying, is it will get better.

Sure as hell can't get worse, can it?

[Ken Gargett]

Sure as hell can't get worse, can it?

sadly, we have been saying it can't get worse for quite a few years. and it does.

watch some serious talent bail on the wallabies over the next 18 months. to league or rich european teams.

[Webbo]

A genuine question then Ken, who is in charge of the Wallabies? Who is the person who could ( and should) be stamping on this and setting the standards for the whole game in Australia, including the national team. It certainly is not clear from a distance here in the UK who it is, maybe it's mired down in faceless committees 57 old farts in the words of Carling. A strong Australian side, both in cricket and rugby is essential to the world game. They should sort their **** out and sharpish.

[Ken Gargett]

A genuine question then Ken, who is in charge of the Wallabies? Who is the person who could ( and should) be stamping on this and setting the standards for the whole game in Australia, including the national team. It certainly is not clear from a distance here in the UK who it is, maybe it's mired down in faceless committees 57 old farts in the words of Carling. A strong Australian side, both in cricket and rugby is essential to the world game. They should sort their **** out and sharpish.

in truth, i don't think anyone knows. chieka will be a strong coach but the management makes a jellyfish look like a steel bar. could not run a bath. an utter mess.

[Webbo]

in truth, i don't think anyone knows. chieka will be a strong coach but the management makes a jellyfish look like a steel bar. could not run a bath. an utter mess.

I guess therein lies the heart of the problem. Any signs of change at the top coming?

[Ken Gargett]

I guess therein lies the heart of the problem. Any signs of change at the top coming?

if asked to speculate, i would not be surprised if one member of the admin was made to take the fall and then more of the same.

[Ken Gargett]

absolutely. aussie sport in the toilet. mind you, if we lose the league to england i really will get concerned.

forgive me but now i am finally the grumpy old man.

pakistan has just amassed a whopping 8,000 runs and we come in. we really have only the option of saving the game.

glenn maxwell. he is less of a test batsman than phibbs is a rugby player. given that his test average – granted from a few tests – is less than 10, you’d think perhaps head down, save the game, bat steadily and accumulate a heap of runs. new player, secure his place. but no. this single-celled brain decides to win the game in a session and goes the slog. strike rate of over 130 trying to save a test. he should never ever ever again be allowed in a cricket ground, let alone play another test. is he really that stupid or does he simply not care?

given we are, time of writing, 5 down for 100 (must be a diabolical batting track), the rest are just hopeless. and probably don’t care either.

did i mention the redskins?